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Urban Warfare and Jade Helm: Why We Should Invade Texas

 

I grew up watching The Simpsons and it remains one of my favorite TV shows. So when news stories began to gain traction a month ago regarding theories that a military takeover of Texas was imminent, I was reminded of this quote (from 1994, no less) by fictional news anchor Kent Brockman: “Just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the ‘Army’, but a more alarmist name would be ‘The Kill-Bot Factory.’” More than twenty years later, this quote comically sums-up the nature of the suspicions of and claims from the fringe conspiracy theorists of the far-right in America today. The results of the large U.S. military exercise due to take place in Texas, Utah, Colorado and other states this summer should indeed be of great concern for Americans—but not because of the dire warnings of coming martial law from conspiracy theorists and fringe groups. Instead, it should be of concern to us because of what it means for the future of warfare in the 21stcentury.

Tinfoil Helmets: Growth of the Conspiracy

The idea that the U.S. government will send the Army to invade an unruly state and impose martial law has pervaded much of the Obama presidency. Many on the fringe feel that incremental enlargements in the size of government directly challenge their way of life, with the obvious end goal of these increases (according to the fringe) being a totalitarian government. In the last few months this alarm has become especially acute as tenuous evidence has been pieced together which supposedly confirms these fears. More often than not, faux news and “info-tainment” stories are emerging each day which purport that the U.S. government is planning for martial law in Texas under the guise of military training exercises (or that people certainly believe as much).

Despite only recent national coverage, the news that the U.S. military is planning a massive training exercise across southwest American states this summer has actually existed since the end of 2014 – being reported in regional papers as a benefit to the local economy as troops spend their pay there. This rhetoric only altered in March 2015 when a conspiracy ”news” website released leaked information on the training exercise – Jade Helm 15. Especially of interest to these and other conspiracy theorists was a map of the location in which the training will take place. While some states were labeled as “permissive” (such as Colorado), states including Utah and Texas, as well as the southern tip of California, were labeled as “hostile.” Since then, this highly circumstantial evidence has been tied to together with speculation regarding the recent closure of several Wal-Marts in the region. According to theorists, these empty Wal-Marts may become detention centers for political dissidents when martial law is imposed, or even locations to stockpile supplies for Chinese troops who will disarm Americans once they arrive.

By the end of March, the story was exposed to a wider audience after being reported by Texan conspiracy theorist and radio show host Alex Jones (who gained national fame for his 2013 debate with Piers Morgan). As this pressure mounted from fringe conspiracists in late April, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, ordered the Texas State Guard to watch over the Special Forces taking part in the training exercise to ensure “that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed.” Perhaps the greatest irony of this situation is that just weeks after the Jade Helm 15 conspiracy reached fever pitch, Governor Abbott has turned to President Obama and the federal government for relief following unprecedented flooding in Texas. It turns out Texas will indeed be invaded—by FEMA relief workers instead of U.S. Special Forces.

 

The exercise is meant “to improve the Special Operations Forces’ Unconventional Warfare capability” through blending into and operating within alien urban areas without being detected. Far from a declaration of martial law.

Even though the absurdity of the idea has worn off, the story itself seemingly refuses to die as it feeds into the suspicion of the Obama administration (and the federal government in general) popular with much of the far right-wing. The map and the Wal-Mart closures merely offer a small amount of circumstantial credibility to the story, allowing the story to be newsworthy for the least scrupulous of news editors. As one conspiracy website noted, even if the circumstantial evidence and speculation are explained away, “why would the United States government conduct a massive military operation in populated civilian areas during a time when distrust of the United States government was at a historic high?”

What Should Concern Us Instead

To explain this question we must return to the leaked document on Jade Helm 15. The operation will run from 15th July to the 15th September, predominantly in Texas, and will include Special Forces from across the military, as well as some standard military units. Ironically, Texas was chosen in part “because Texans are historically supportive of efforts to prepare our soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors to fight the enemies of the United States.” But vast areas of undeveloped land with access to towns are also requirements which Texas has an abundance of. In essence, the exercise is meant “to improve the Special Operations Forces’ Unconventional Warfare capability” through blending into and operating within alien urban areas without being detected. Indeed, the tagline of Jade Helm 15 is “Master the Human Domain.”

A scary thought, yes. But the idea is not to take over Texas. What is scary is the idea that U.S. Special Forces will have to operate far behind enemy lines, disguising themselves as they move about and operate in a hostile urban environment, hoping that their presence isn’t detected and reported to the authorities. As I’ve written about previously, military operations on urban terrain will likely be a defining characteristic of warfare in this century as the world continues to urbanize. That Jade Helm 15 may become a constant reality in some distant land is indeed worrisome, but it is a positive step that U.S. forces are training for it now.

Since the early 1990s, American officials have been concerned that U.S. troops are simply not trained to operate effectively in urban environments. This began following the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993, but even on the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, concerns were raised regarding the difficulty of taking Baghdad, with some fearful that the Republican Guard could turn the capital into a “Mesopotamian Stalingrad.” While the Thunder Runs into downtown Baghdad did successfully capture the Iraqi capital, this was more down to the effects of speed and mass firepower on a collapsing enemy rather than a coherent strategy to take a major city from an entrenched and resolute enemy. A year later, Fallujah displayed how the U.S. military was unprepared to fight urban warfare cleanly and effectively, despite the nominal success of the operation.

Physical terrain could be taken in the Fallujah model, but at huge costs in terms of manpower and to the urban environment. But throughout the War, the U.S. military has been improving its urban warfare capabilities and tying them to counterinsurgency operations, such as with “Clear, Hold and Build” which developed following the Battle of Tal Afar in 2006. This process culminated during the surge in 2007 and the extremely well-coordinated Battle of Sadr City in 2008. The U.S. military learned lessons in urban warfare the hard way, but it is now teaching those lessons to those who most need it – the Iraqi Army.

Urban instability is an increasingly prominent threat to militaries and it needs to be prepared for through extensive training. This is why U.S. troops conduct MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) training in realistic town mockups, such as in the 300-acre facility at Fort A.P. Hill. Without such immersive training, U.S. preparedness for urban operations would slip back to the slack levels of preparedness of the 1990s, losing lessons learned in the Iraq War. But even this training facility has come under scrutiny from fringe theorists, with the Commander of the Asymmetric Warfare Group there being confronted on multiple occasions during a phone-in on C-SPAN in May. As with Jade Helm 15, conspiracy theorists asserted that the training at Fort Hill is preparation for taking over American cities and imposing martial law.

The idea that U.S. troops are using training exercises in urban areas as a front in preparation for imposing martial law is convenient for fringes of the far right-wing in America. But Jade Helm 15, as well as training in Fort Hill and numerous other locations, reflects the shifting reality of warfare in a rapidly urbanizing world where America’s military must be prepared for all eventualities. It is the fact that testing operations in urban areas will regularly have to take place in the future which we should be worried about and not the fantasy that President Obama is coming to take people’s guns and declare himself emperor.

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25 comments

  1. TJJ 1 June, 2015 at 20:36 Reply

    Peter Storey, the government calls this a “drill”, but we all know that is just the guise in which they operate under, to begin the cleansing of the true United States Patriots.

    Remember, “What you allow, is what will continue.”

    Stand up and fight, do not become enslaved more than we have let them already…

    The time has come…

      • DBM 3 June, 2015 at 13:31 Reply

        Chris, Ever been to the rest of the world? Everywhere else is very different in buildings and people. They training these special ops guys are doing is useless in the rest of the world.

        • Chris Miller 4 June, 2015 at 11:01 Reply

          I guarantee I’ve seen more of the rest of the world than you and seen it from an urban warfare perspective. You clearly do not know what you are talking about and this statement is further proof. Find something else to occupy your time.

    • Mike M. 2 June, 2015 at 13:38 Reply

      This really isn’t the forum for conspiracy theory nonsense, so please take it elsewhere

      In case you’re not aware the military has training exercises all over the country, year round

      How do you think they prepare for deployments?

  2. WhtBk 1 June, 2015 at 20:54 Reply

    Jade Helm – The acronym stands for “Joint Assistant for Development and Execution along with Homeland Eradication of Local Militants.”

    Our existence as a Free and Sovereign Nation has been lost, to an abusive perversion. Created by malevolent revisions, from the insatiable egomaniac psychopaths, of the Oligarchy. Operation Jade Helm 15, is a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act. Any perceived or contrived insurrection, lawlessness, rebellion from the citizenry, or domestic entity, other than our treasonous Government, is pure fiction.

    The current and any planned future Military exercises such as these, on Domestic civilian soil are treasonous acts of aggression. Which can only be perceived as an actual or mock attack, on the citizenry of The United States of America, by a domestic enemy combatant. Giving the citizenry immediate cause and legal precedence for the Citizen Militia. For it is blatantly obvious that this is, an attack from a domestic enemy or the training for a future attack, by a domestic enemy.

    Vernacular, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. You can be confident, it is in fact a duck.

    Our Dystopian nightmare, foreseen by George Orwell, has most assuredly arrived!

  3. Valvatorez 1 June, 2015 at 22:11 Reply

    Jade Helm conspiracy theorists are usually fat mall ninjas who are part of militias. I predict we see more David Koresh’s and Timothy McVeigh’s in the near future.

      • Christopher 4 June, 2015 at 20:12 Reply

        That’s just false equivalence.All the left wing militias are gone.
        Ayers has no influence on liberals unlike the hold the radical right has with Rotana America. Tumbler Femis don’t count.

  4. tpw70 1 June, 2015 at 23:38 Reply

    Military convoys spotted in Connecticut also.
    Those of you who are too afraid to let themselves believe the truth can continue to mock.
    Go back to your iphones and game consoles, you are a product.

  5. GT1911 2 June, 2015 at 16:01 Reply

    I’m a very proud active duty service member in the US military and hearing these simpletons claim that we are somehow preparing to do harm to the very people we fight and die for is an outrage. The collective ravings of this conspiracy amounts to one of the single most idiotic things I’ve ever read.

    • Christopher 4 June, 2015 at 21:10 Reply

      The American terrorists think anything but a Christian ruled theocracy is big government. The military would do well to purge anyone who thinks the same from the ranks.
      Of course this is what you get when the Right Wing media tells them they the can stand up to Apaches and M1 Abrams with Ar-15s and Barret 12mm rifles.

  6. Glk45 3 June, 2015 at 00:44 Reply

    Show this to your friends and family who think you are insane for being concerned, and learn this vital information yourself. Everything I am about to expose is found in US Statue Code, Congressional Records and law books but, you as a ‘federalized citizen’ or ‘indentured corporate debt-slave’ were never to learn : Look it up yourselves !!! Don’t be scared to learn the truth..

    THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INCORPORATED aka USA Inc., a private foreign owned off-shore international banking/military occupational criminal cartel that has been fraudulently masquerading as our sovereign constitutional governing body since and before 1933.

    SHOW THEM THIS: The United States Is A Corporation: US Statue Code Title 28, 3002 (15) (a) (b) (c).

    Quote: “We’ll know our disinformation campaign is complete when, everything the American people believe is absolutely false.” – William Casey Dir. CIA

    – Obama, CEO of USA Inc., and does not represent the American people but rather, the global ruling elite shareholders of USA Inc.

    – CON-gress, is Board of Directors of USA Inc., and they too do not represent the American people but only that of the global ruling elite shareholders of USA Inc., at our never-ending expense.

    WASHINGTON DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (goddess of war and destruction) INCORPORATED, is and always has been, a separate corporate nation-state from the 50 state union of sovereign states since 1801.

    Let that sink in … Washington District of Columbia, is a foreign corporate nation-state, and does NOT represent the 50 state union.

    Few realize that our 50 state union was seized under a manipulated and contrived bankruptcy and placed into receivership to the international criminal banking cartel controlled from the Financial District of London City, England in a secretive coup that was instigated starting with the Act of 1871, and was covertly finalized by the Geneva Convention in 1938.

    This unlawful seizure included not only all national asset holdings, natural resources and infrastructure but ‘We The People’, as hypothecated, collateralized, and monetized security instruments used as surety to pay-off all past, present and future debts owed by the hostile invading criminal USA Inc. forever, or until the American people finally awaken to this massive fraud and occupational seizure of our nation and ‘We The People’ as ‘corporatized’ debt-slaves classified as ‘soulless units of commerce’ or ‘human resource’ owned and subjugated by the international banking/military cartel.

    Under the Emergency War Powers Act, Trading With the Enemy Act, and Emergency Banking Relief Act that is secretly re-instated in private every year since 1933, the American people are classified as:

    ‘Enemies-of-the-Corporate-State’, or as : ‘Belligerents-in-the-Field’. We are already in a standing ‘martial law’ status that gives all power to Obama.

    Still think the military and the international bankers that control it aren’t capable of a military take-over?

    The organic Constitution of 1776, ratified in 1789 has been suspended, altered and usurped by a de facto fraudulent CON-stitution of 1871, when the organic document was altered to become a private corporate business charter for USA Inc.

    Here’s the shocking truth:

    ALL law enforcement, military and public officials from federal, state, county to city level swear an oath to ‘Serve and Protect’ NOT the organic Constitution created by the founders that recognized your God-given rights, and God’s Laws but, rather to the de facto CON-stitution fomented in 1871, that is a mere corporate business charter ! ‘We The People’ in this de facto fraudulent document is NOT YOU ! It is in-fact, ‘We The Ruling Elite Shareholders ‘OF’ not ‘FOR’ THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INCORPORATED’.

    – Organic 1776: The Constitution ‘FOR’ the United States of America meaning ‘We The Sovereign People’.

    – De facto 1871: THE CONSTITUTION ‘OF’ THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (all Upper Case always denotes a corporate status in Admiralty/International Uniform Commercial Code (Contract Law) or UCC) which is now the law of the land under marxist/fascist corporatism.

    ALL law enforcement, (including the Sheriff departments since 1938) military and public officials therefore DO NOT represent the American people but that of foreign occupational invading mercenary corporate power as:

    ‘Agents of Foreign Principle’ pursuant to their own US Statue Codes 18, 22, 26, and 28, and The Intergovernmental Personnel Act, which they completely ignore as lawless invading mercenaries for the international banking/military criminal cartel.

    The average employee of USA Inc., knows nothing of this but, I can assure you their superiors absolutely know, as do all federal judges. It is our duty and responsibility to ‘remind’ them that they are committing felony crimes each and every day for fraudulent mis-representation and conspiracy to commit criminal collusion, fraud and racketeering under the RICO ACT.

    This treason and high crimes also includes ALL officers of the Federal and State court which is a copyrighted, trademarked, registered privately owned and controlled ‘legal system’ manipulated from the Financial District of London City, England under the United Nations Incorporated/IMF/Crown Corporation/British Crown for Vatican Incorporated, the largest, wealthiest and most powerful corporation on the planet for over 2,000 years and counting.

    IMPOSSIBLE you say! Really?

    The two massive symbols on the wall behind the Speaker of the House are ‘Fasces’ or Caesarian Etruscan/Roman symbols of rulership under military tribunal occupational subjugation by the Un-Holy Roman Empire.

    Do the research.

    This is just a small example of the crimes and high treason that is being committed against you and your loved ones. I could go on for hours exposing all the fraud, lies, crimes and blatant treason against ‘We The Useless Eaters’ by the parasitic ruling elite slave-masters who hate humanity and want us all subjugated and enslaved to their evil corrupt corporate debt-system.

    I urge everyone to research: ‘America Is A Corporation’. there are numerous excellent videos on YT that expose all the documentation, quotes etc.

    BY OUR IGNORANCE, APATHY AND SILENCE WE ALLOW !!!

    • Chris Miller 3 June, 2015 at 07:24 Reply

      Nothing you have said here has any factual basis and is an exercise in fear-mongering. To what end, I wonder. Your thoughts are all sophistry pieced together from fragments of disparate information like the ransom demand letter kidnappers send made of cut out letters from magazines. I enjoy how fringe groups call their underground Wikipedia surfing ‘research.’ I picture you with a ‘Beautiful Mind’-like nebulous conspiracy map in your garage with little red strings connecting everything. You win the tinfoil hat race (so far).

      • Larry 17 July, 2015 at 22:55 Reply

        LOL!

        Absolutely right on.

        Actually, having come from a law enforcement career after my military service, used to see the whackos come out normally with the full moon.

        Then politics got VERY fanatical on the fringes (especially on the Far Right end of the spectrum).

        Anyway, we found that with our “regular customers”, that the old metal colander pasta drainers worked better for them than tinfoil. A lot more rugged, plus multiple tasking.

  7. DBM 3 June, 2015 at 13:28 Reply

    Your logic is flawed. First how hard is it for americans to blend in with other americans. Its pretty easy.
    Next training for urban warfare in America for foreign warfare is absolutely useless unless you are planning to invade Canada. Buildings and city layouts are completely different in the rest of the world and training in America would be counter productive to the object lessons to be taught.

    As a former Army officer I am deeply disturbed by these training missions that serve no purpose other than to tell people we can invade your homes at any time for no stated reason. Oh and there is nothing you can do about it.

    • Peter Storey 3 June, 2015 at 14:11 Reply

      To address your first point, if they were operating in Houston or Dallas, I’d agree with you. But they’re not going to be in big cities, they’re going to be in small and medium size towns where most people will know other people in the town. So soldiers could quite easily stick out like saw thumbs when they’re not locals, especially when townsfolk have been told to report anything out of place during the operation (which they have been). As such, it’s a lot more difficult than you might credit.
      On your second point, it’s also true that most of these buildings are North American/European in style. But 1) American builders are going to be brought in to build these training areas and what will they know of other styles of building? Not very much, most likely. 2) Since urban operations could take place in nearly any part of the globe, is there much point in singling out a specific foreign style of building? 3) Most importantly, the exterior of a house and a layout of a town may appear to be North American, but the lessons of urban warfare can be taught in such an environment. Whether you’re fighting in Hue, Stalingrad or Fallujah, the basic tenants of urban warfare don’t magically change.

    • Chris Miller 4 June, 2015 at 11:08 Reply

      It’s hilarious that you are talking about logic, DBM. You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m shocked that you claim to be a former Army officer, yet are buying into this conspiracy theory nonsense and can’t see the the value in this training. I actually don’t believe you.

  8. Larry 17 July, 2015 at 22:49 Reply

    Too many ultra conservatives who once supported the military without question, now see a military coup d’etat every time they see an armed military person on American soil… demonstrated ably by the reaction by fanatical RW wingnuts to the situation with “Operation Jade Helm 15” and the whacko conspiracy theory nuts that have came out all over the place, but especially Texas; and we’re not just talking about Joe Average Redneck, but to include the governor, many state legislators, Senator Cruz, and even Chuck Norris…

    Yes, the same people who before had “Support Our Troops” bumper stickers all over! (*)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Helm_15_conspiracy_theories

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/15/head-scratching-jade-helm-conspiracy-theories/30216939/

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/8-wild-jade-helm-15-conspiracy-theories-article-1.2291956

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/jul/14/what-jade-helm-15/

    http://www.factcheck.org/2015/05/jade-helm-not-martial-law/

    http://www.infowars.com/what-they-wont-tell-you-about-jade-helm/

    https://www.intellihub.com/41-reasons-jade-helm-should-be-a-red-flag-for-all-americans/

    http://freepatriotpost.com/underground-us-tunnel-map-links-walmart-jade-helm-locations-wow-check-this-out/
    (Check out the Comments, the one especially by “Jay” and the food truck convoy conspiracy that then gets exploded by a Snopes investigation posted by another poster)

    http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/jade-helm-15-watchdog-writes-off-liberals-as-useless-i-cant-wait-to-kill-thousands-of-these-fcks/

    http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/operation-jade-helm-is-not-a-military-takeover-of-the-a-1700890963
    (Very good article – and a VG website)

    http://freakoutnation.com/2015/07/weak-dictator-obama-fails-to-seize-texas-on-first-day-of-jade-helm/
    (Some satire)

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-16/jade-helm-begins-complete-texas-takeover-guide
    (Second half is a lot of satire)

    http://www.sacurrent.com/Blogs/archives/2015/07/15/jade-helm-is-underway-still-waiting-on-that-federal-invasion-though
    (More satire)

    http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/jade-helm-15-the-first-48-hours-7406734
    (Eye-rolling and satire)

    http://now.snopes.com/2015/03/23/usasoc-explains-jade-helm-exercise/

    (*) Support Our Troops…. as so ably demonstrated by former President GW Bush (from information recently unearthed and verified) who in 2012 accepted an invitation to be a keynote speaker for a fundraiser for the non profit Veterans charity organization “Helping a Hero”… for a $100,000 speaker’s fee plus private jet transportation (which ran another $20,000!).

    http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/george-w-bush-charges-wounded-veterans-group-100000-speak-fundraiser

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0709/George-W.-Bush-charges-vets-group-100-000-for-speech.-Too-much

    http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2015/07/16/he-sent-soldiers-to-war-and-yet-had-no-qualms-about-charging-100000-to-give-speech-to-wounded-veterans-who-president-bush/

    (Former DoD Secretary Robert Gates was the main speaker last year and didn’t charge a penny… Bill Hinton, maybe the record-holder for speaker fees by a former president has never charged ANY veterans group or ANY charity group a speaker’s fee)

  9. Doc 11 December, 2015 at 00:50 Reply

    Yep call them conspiracy nutjobs if you wish but I believe the original revolutionary fellows were also conspiracy nutjobs. What you have is the Amercans distrust of government, don’t matter if it’s the left or right, it has always been a part of American culture, so I find it amusing that an Englisman would actually think he understands the American mindset.

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